Ogandrews

I have seen a few fish come out of that lake that were quite nice. Been thinking about trying a lake called crystal lake by robbinsdale as well. Really little lake with a pretty high population of golden shiners, seen a couple really solid ones come out of there as well. I’m sure most of the lakes that are stocked have a couple bigger ones in there, I just need to pick a lake and make a couple trips there until I tie into one.

Unless I’m punching or just flipping around heavier grass I find myself using 1/8 and 3/16 the most, depending on lure size. I always like to go with as light as I can get away with as I feel like I always get more bites with a lighter weight, but that could be a personal confidence thing. I do a decent amount of punching in the summer and my most used size is 1oz although I have used up to 1 1/2. Like others said you won’t need to use quite as heavy of a weight, if you were using 1/4 of lead then go with either 1/8 or 3/16 of tungsten for the same rof.

One thing I would like to say is that there is a huge amount of hype and misinformation about floro. Now I am more so speaking from a braid to leader aspect as opposed to straight line. Whenever anyone talks about braid to a leader they automatically assume that you need to use floro as the leader when in reality mono or coply makes a way better leader. Mono holds knots much better than floro, is just as or more abrasion resistant, has better shock resistance, and gives a little more stretch which helps with braid. Yes floro is a tiny bit less visible than mono but in 99% of situations that will not make a difference, only if your in the clearest lakes in the country. Tackle companies and pros push floro so much because they are trying to sell it. If you are using it as a mainline I get it because mono is so stretchy but as a leader floro is completely overrated.

Switch to 8-10lbs braid to a 6-10lbs mono leader and it will be a night and day difference. Will have way better casting distance and he way more sensitive. I know a lot of guys have different opinions on what to use line wise for casting rods but it’s undeniable that braid to a leader is the way to go with a spinning rod. I really like suffix 832 for light line, very supple and not expensive.

For wacky/neko rigs with a smaller lighter hook I will throw them on my e6x 852s jwr. It’s a great rod but I wish I would have spent a little more on an expride or saved money and gone with an avid because I don’t feel like it’s worth the $220 or 230 I paid for it. Either way it is a perfect action for this presentation, would have preferred a 7’3-7’6” but it will do for this season. Any Texas rigged senkos I will throw on a casting rod, weightless or weighted. If I’m using a super line ewg hook I will throw it on a dobyns 735c and fish with 65lbs maxcuatro braid to a 20lbs mono leader. If I want to be more subtle I will use a lighter wire hook and throw it on a dobyns 733c, 40lbs maxcuatro braid to a 12-15lbs mono leader. I have also thrown a neko/wacky rig on a medium light but I generally prefer a medium as a senko is pretty heavy and I feel like I’m more accurate with a medium. If I was in your situation I’d get an nrx 852 or an 802 if you like a shorter rod, although I could see getting an 803 as you could probably throw light wire t rigged ones on it too.

I would say to get a Shimano expride but their all sold out everywhere. I would recommend looking into a dobyns champion 733 or 734. I would go with the 733 if you will be using lighter wire exposed hooks or the 744 if heavier wire and weedless hooks. I use my Sierra 733 for most keitechs under 4.8 and it is a perfect patch. Sensitive, has some give in the tip but is still fast enough and has enough backbone to get a good hook set. I paired mine with a curado k 7.1 with 40lbs maxcuatro braid and will use 12-17lbs mono leader depending on the water clarity. I have also use my Sierra 735 for heavier wire swim jigs and swimbaits and it is great for those applications as well although I usually prefer a longer rod if I’m casting anything over 1/2 oz.

I looked into it a little bit more and Larry ramsell went and weighed ken obrians fish 8 days after it was caught and it was 57lbs. Most likely lost a good amount of water weight in the time it was in the freezer. Still an insanely big fish. In 2000 or so there was a legitimate 62lbser caught in Georgian bay but the guy only got it weighed on a trade scale not a igfa certified one so it wasn’t as official. I know that somewhere out there in Georgian bay and the saint Lawrence/Ottawa rivers there is a world record swimming around. Maybe not over 69 lbs because that was a completely faked number, but definitely bigger than the modern day world record of 58lbs. I know there are fish in Minnesota and northwest Ontario that could break that number too, it’s just a matter of if someone will actually kill that fish when they catch it so it can be certified. One great thing about the Minnesota musky scene is that it is almost 100% catch and release which really lets the fish grow to their potential, and I know Ontario is similar.

That’s awesome, that fish should be the world record musky. It’s amazing the “world record” fish caught by Louis spray out of the Chippewa flowage hasn’t been disqualified yet. That fish has been proven to be nowhere near the size it was claimed to be, as well as the supposed 67 lbs er caught in the same year by cal Johnson. Both of those fish were completely bogus weights meant to bring tourism to the Hayward area. It is hard to say weather or not the ken O’Brien fish was exactly what it weighed but it for sure a much bigger fish then the two others I talked about. It’s a shame there wasn’t the modern day musky record program back then, Larry Ramsell does an amazing job of making sure fish are legitimate. He did a video with today’s angler where he went through and talked about how the vast majority of musky records have been completely faked, give it a watch it’s a super interesting show. There recently was a naturally occurring tiger that somebody caught out of the St. Louis river near Duluth that could have potentially broken the world record. Google St. Louis tiger musky and it will come up, fish looks unreal how fat it is.

I want to hear the story, laughed pretty hard just reading this sentence.

While I will agree that the higher ratio you go generally you will have less torque, but in the end you are still fishing for bass not tuna. Yes, bass getting into heavy cover makes them much harder to fight, but modern reels are built in a way to give you enough torque in a 7 or 8. One of the biggest benefits to a fast reel in my opinion is picking up slack line, or bringing in baits when your flipping or jig fishing. Take fishing a jerkbait, you shouldn’t be moving the bait with your reel. After a couple jerks you pick up the slack, with a fast reel that is one handle turn or so. I’m not saying you can’t do it on a slow reel, it is just easier with a faster one. When it comes to flipping or worming or jig fishing majority of the casts your not going to get bit, and your most likely fishing more of a specific spot as opposed to working the thing completely back to the boat. In that situation I would way rather get the bait back to the boat sooner and not have to spend as much effort turning the handle. When it comes to fighting fish around cover, majority of the time you will get the fish moving towards you with your rod and hopefully keep them coming with the reel. This is where a longer rod has a big advantage in my opinion. A longer rod gives you a better hook set, which undoubtedly is a huge factor in successfully landing a fish. I fish longer rods than most people for every single tactic I use besides jerkbaits because I enjoy the feel of a long rod and am able to control the fish better. I am definitely more accurate with a longer rod as well, but that could also just be that I am more comfortable with them. In musky fishing the normal length of a rod is 8’6-9’6” with some going longer than that. Musky are a way harder fighting fish than bass and also hang out in very heavy weed growth. These longer rods give you better control over the fish by being able to better control where their head is going as well as increasing your hooksetting power and really increase your hookup to land ratio. Back in the day musky guys used to use 5-6ft rods that were like pool cues, and now everything has transitioned to longer rods because they just overall perform better.I could talk about my preference for a longer rod all day but it really comes down to personal preference. I really like Gerald swindle but he’s not exactly the best guy when it comes to technical advice. He preaches about how floro has zero stretch when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not bashing the guy as he is an amazing fisherman, just pointing out the fact that not everything that comes out of his mouth is gospel.

I have a 735c that I used for frogs a swim jigs/ regular jigs. Awesome rod, a little soft for my liking as a frog rod but it works. I have actually used it for s wavers before and it works. Not the perfect rod for it as I’d prefer something a little slower but it definitely gets the job done. Might lose a fish or two but you will be able to land the majority of them.

It might just be me but I really don’t like the idea of buying reels that are just rebranded and repainted. I have never gotten a lemon reel from Shimano in all of the reels I have bought from them, and the longevity of their higher end reels is incredible. I have used lews reels that I like, but never better than a Shimano in the same price point. One thing I will say about lews that I really like is that they have amazing customer service, a lot better than Shimano. Never used any Diawa casting reels but I know it is a similar story with them. They actually develop and produce their own reels and you can tell. I know all of the companies have their dedicated fans, but I have no reason to get anything but Shimano and I know I am getting a quality product.

In general when I’m fishing a smaller stream like that I spend most of my time fishing slow baits that stick around in the strike zone as long as possible. Most of the time I’m throwing a small tube, a rage menace or a chigger craw on a jig head, suspending jerkbait, top water walking bait, or small swimbait fished really slow. Stream smallies hit a lot of lures you don’t need to overcomplicate it, but I like to fish slower to maximize the amount of time my lure is in front of the fish.

Great fish in the beginning and great content. I binged listened to a bunch of your videos last week while putting water heaters in for people at work, glad there’s another channel on YouTube besides tacticalbassin that gives straight up good fishing advice. Definitely will be watching more.

It will really pay to play around with how you work your jig. A lot of the time I’m throwing a jig all I’m doing is dragging it on the bottom, making it look like a crayfish crawling around. Most of the time crayfish won’t be jumping off of the bottom unless they are spooked, so you don’t always need to hop a jig. When the fish are aggressive though you can work them super aggressive. I have caught a huge amount of bass when they are aggressive by working the jig really fast and only letting it tick the bottom. If you are really new to jigs, I would recommend getting a couple swim jigs as well. I use dirty jigs because that’s what I have confidence in but sieberts makes a great product as well. For ponds it’s really hard to beat a 1/4 oz finesse swim jig with a 3.8 keitech or rage swimmer in a a bluegill color. Cast it out, let it get close to bottom, and just fish it slow like a regular swimbait. As long as you get a trailer with enough action you don’t need to shake your rod tip like you see so many people doing, the paddletail will make the skirt move on it’s own. It’s also a great bait to fish beds with because bass hate bluegills so much and a swim jig gives a more bluegill like profile then a straight up keitech.

Protein bars, rice crispies, a sandwich if I bring a cooler, a bang energy drink and some kratom. Canned octopus???? That’s a new one for me. I guess calamari is really good so octopus should be too

I’ve heard a lot of people call spot/smallmouth hybrids mean mouths also. I think that spots are more likely to cross bread with smallmouth than largemouth are with smallies, and I think the survival rate is better. I’m no biologist though so I could be completely wrong.

St Clair is an amazing musky fishery. Doesn’t have quite as big of fish as some of the low density Minnesota/Ontario lakes and rivers, like vermilion, Mille lacs, eagle, Rowan, lac seul, Georgian bay and the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence rivers, but it’s got insanely high numbers of fish in that 40-low 50” range with potential for mid 50’s. Definitely on my bucket list of places to musky fish. Not to mention the smallmouth and walleye fishing.

Those are awesome fish man. Glad to see some other people that actually enjoy fishing for pike, seems like their so under appreciated here. Granted we don’t have Canadian caliber pike, but if you know what your doing and on the right fishery there’s some fish in the 40’s. Really wish we had pike tournaments around here, would be way more excited to do that than bass or walleye tournaments.

I have really been wanting to fish some of the metro tiger lakes this summer, never caught one. One thing that is nice about southern mn is that the lakes I fish have low populations and a really solid average size. Mix that with a huge forage base and a longer growth period and you get some really big fish. I have heard multiple times that central Minnesota has an issue with really overpopulated pike. Those are some awesome fish man, I really want to make it up to the NWT some day. Have you ever fished lake vermilion in Minnesota? It’s where I musky fish the most and last year a guy caught the state record catch and release musky at 57 1/4”. Some of the biggest musky in the world are in that lake, there have been a handful on confirmed 60” fish caught in the past.

I wear a Navis marine offshore sailing suit. It is actually made for sailboat racing in really bad weather so it is made to not restrict your movement at all. The pants and jacket can attach to each other making it incredibly water proof. It’s pretty breathable and comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Both pieces cost me around $250 but it is completely worth it to have something comfortable and dry to wear.

One of the best musky lakes in the world too especially for numbers of fish. I would kill to live next to that great of a fishery, take advantage of it. It is a huge lake but I know there’s parts you could access with a small boat or kayak. Get out there and get after those giants.

I love bass fishing but my real passion is fishing for pike and musky. I’ve been obsessed with these big toothy fish ever since I was 6 years old and had a 50”+ musky come out from under the dock I was fishing on and eat the 15” or so smallmouth I had on my line. Ever since that day I knew I wanted to catch the fish that was eating the fish other people were catching. There is something so special about seeing a true trophy esox, either pike or musky, that keeps me casting for hours on end. The fish in my profile picture is my pb northern at 44.5” that I caught out of my kayak, that fishes head was the size of a shovel and it had the tail of another northern sticking out of its throat. The speed and strength of these fish is incredible, musky get a lot of love around here but it is a shame that more people don’t like to target pike. Anyone else here love fishing for these toothy guys? Once the season opens on Saturday I’ll be spending the next month or so targeting pike until the water gets warm and musky season opens. Really going to try hard to break the MN state record for catch and release pike, I was only 3/4” off last fall I know it is doable. Still haven’t gotten a truly big musky but I have caught a number in the 40’s, really want to break that 50” mark this year too.

Awesome pictures everyone. It is absolutely killing me that the Minnesota season isn’t open yet. 5 days 1 hour and 36 mins and I will finally be able to legally fish for pike bass and walleye again. Still have to wait a month after that to start musky fishing but I’ll be able to distract myself with pike and bass until then. These 5 days before opener are always the longest days of the year for me, can’t wait until Saturday.

I know this is going to sound like an obvious response but it can pay huge dividends to fish differently than the people around you. Majority of the fisheries around me are highly pressured for Minnesota standards so I have had to make changes to my fishing to be successful. Pay attention to what people around you are throwing and make sure to have your presentation be different. It could be as simple as a different color or a completely different class of lure. Another thing I like to do is throw more subtle lures than other people. If you see a lot of people chucking chatterbaits and spinnerbaits, throw a swim jig. If you see people throwing a lot of bright swimbaits, throw a natural color one with a more natural action. Loud lipless, throw a silent one or a blade bait. Switch to a finesse jig instead of a full sized one. In my experience doing this can make a huge difference in a pressured fishery.